Cultural transition in the Chilterns and Essex region, 350 AD to 650 AD / John T. Baker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baker, John T.

Series:

Studies in regional and local history (Hertfordshire, England) ; v. 4.

Studies in regional and local history ; v. 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Chiltern Hills (England)--Antiquities.

Chiltern Hills (England).

Essex (England)--Antiquities.

Essex (England).

Great Britain--History--Roman period, 55 B.C.-449 A.D.

Great Britain.

History.

Great Britain--History--Anglo-Saxon period, 449-1066.

Great Britain--Civilization--To 1066.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

x, 303 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Hatfield, Hertfordshire [England] : University of Hertfordshire Press, 2006.

Summary:

In this book, John Baker compares archaeological evidence from the fourth to seventh centuries AD in the Chilterns and Essex region with the considerable body of place-name data from the same area. Included are the counties of Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Essex, and parts of Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. It is an important study, not only for its regional specificity, but also for its methodology and for the way in which it contributes to our understanding of the origins of English ethnicity.

Using a combination of archaeological and linguistic evidence, Dr Baker analyses the transition from Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon society. He rehearses the well-known concerns about the reliability and difficulties in interpretation of the documentary sources for the period and remains aware of the methodological difficulties around the archaeological record and changing interpretations of place-names. The relationship between the archaeological record and the ethnicity of a particular region remains unclear: the evidence for Germanic material culture does not necessarily reflect the number of new settlers. The distribution and density of Germanic archaeological remains vary considerably within the region, such that it is unlikely there was a single predominant process by which Germanic culture was introduced to it. This highlights the danger of making generalised statements on the nature of interaction between people of British and Germanic culture in this period. The transition from Romano-British to Anglo-Saxon material culture is likely to have been the result of a combination of different processes. But it is clear that, across much of the region, Germanic material influence was strong in the fifth to seventh centuries, if not as ubiquitous as Romano-British influence had been in the fourth century.

One of the substantive conclusions to emerge from this study is that post-Roman British survival should not be seen as unusual or exceptional, even if, in some cases, Germanic influence rapidly obscured the native culture' during the fifth century. There is insufficient evidence to talk about an organised British kingdom, but - in parts of the region at least - Dr Baker suggests that it is safer to think in terms of an area where a British way of life of some kind was maintained at a time when Germanic culture was spreading through the rest of the region.

Contents:

1 Introduction: the Chilterns and Essex region 1

The end of Roman Britain and the creation of Anglo-Saxon England 1

The region 6

Aims and methodology 13

2 Late Romano-British archaeology 19

Towns and villages 21

Rural settlement: villas and other high-status sites 50

Rural settlement: sites of uncertain or lower status 69

3 Early Anglo-Saxon archaeology 95

The Cam basin 99

North-west of the Chiltern scarp 105

East of the Lea and Stort 111

The middle Thames and the Chiltern dip slope 127

4 Place-names and British survival 138

Pre-English place-names and river-names 138

Old English place-names suggestive of British survival 163

5 Place-names and the spread of Old English 187

Topographical place-names 191

Non-topographical place-names 216

6 Conclusion: cultural transition and the validity of a multidisciplinary regional study 244.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [261]-296) and index.

ISBN:

1902806468

9781902806464

1902806530

9781902806532

OCLC:

57354385

Online:

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